came a day early. Lucy and Jono wont be here till this evening. Well i made the most of it and talked to some really nice australians and canadians for a couple of hours in the hostel that im staying at. It was good to hear their stories and they told me where to buy cheap food and how to catch the metro, so that was great, cos otherwise i would have no idea. This morning i walked around the small, dirty, smelly streets until i found the Basilica du Sacre Coeur. It is a really magnificant cathedral, i was really impressed with how clean the outside was, it was a white colour not a boring brown like so many other cathedrals. It was beautiful inside. And i arrived in time for mass. So i sat in and listened to the sermon in French. The acoustics in the building is of granduer. It was cool to hear the French singing and see some nuns praying. There were alot of tourists there coming to see the famous Sacre Coeur. After mass, i sat on the steps in the sun, overlooking the city and ate my lunch. The view wasnt all that. there is a lot of smog covering the city, but there was a man playing a harp at the bottom of the stairs, so it was quite romantic to be sitting there listening and eating in the city of love. I caught the metro into town, and now i am sitting in opera starbucks drinking coffee and writing this blog. I think Paris is a filthy city. I wouldnt like to live here. The streets are rank, they have a comprehensive metro system though, but you get wafts of urine every now and then. But it is sunny today, so somehow that makes it a little bit better, i can imagine is would be a miserable place when it rains. Tues 31 Jan
We walked so far today! But it was good. Jono, Lucy and I caught the metro to the Lourve, but much to our disgust and bewilderment, the Lourve is closed on Tuesdays, so instead we headed for the island which Notre Dame is on. Notre Dame is a very cool cathedral, and it looks cool from all sides. Inside it doesn't look as big as you think it should, but as you walk around behind the alter there is much more space and many niches with more alters and sculptures. After eating our lunch in the square in front of Notre Dame, we walked by the Siene river, i bought a little eiffel tower from a little street stand, then we walked around the streets of town a little and found some fountains and sat in the park. It was another very sunny beautiful day, so we were very blessed. Then we walked down Champs Ellysees, the street with all the fancy brand shops, to the Arc de Triomphe. That thing is huge! It is where the tomb of the
unknown soldier is. Then walked a little more to the eiffel tower. I bought a chocolate crepe,they are sooo good, expensive though. It only cost us 3€ to climb the eiffel tower, there were soooo many stairs, but we got to the first level just in time for the hazy sunset. And to the second level by the time it was dark and all the lights were on and sparkling all over the tower. It was a good view of Paris even though you couldnt see very far very clearly because of the smog that just sits on the city. So it was a very good day but i was so exhausted from all the walking, the streets are cleaner in the middle of town, but the trees are all bare, it think it would be a very beautiful place in summer. Wed 1 Feb
WOW! Its February already. Today we went to the Lourve Museum, the home of the famous Mona Lisa, it is soo incredibly huge and there is so much art history in there, its all a bit overwhelming really. We were there for 5 hours and still didnt see all of it! Theres ancient art from all over the world and bits of artefacts and huge sculptures and massive paintings. The building itself is so impressive, lots of intricacies and paintings on the ceilings. I was most impressed by the extent of it. After that it was time to get back to the hostel and get ready to catch our respective trains. Jono and Lucy are taking the underground canal back to London. I am catching a 14hr night train to Rome where i am meeting Nomes and her friend. The compartments on the night train are quite small there are six 'beds' in here, three stacked on each wall. Not too bad for a train. But it is a very bumpy ride, I am going straight to bed.
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